Salmon

the salmon, because it can swim against the current and do something unreasonable from the utilitarian standpoint, is a symbol for such contra naturam efforts of man against the flow of nature. It represents the heroic effort against tendencies of laziness

Von Franz argues that the salmon symbolizes the psyche’s counter-natural, heroic striving — contra naturam effort — as well as prophetic wisdom and nourishing vitality drawn from Celtic and Nordic mythology.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, 1974thesis

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he came to the bed of a stream. Lying on the dry mud was a big salmon who couldn’t manage to get back into the water. The son pushed the fish back into the water. Both raven and salmon promised to help in return

The fairy-tale narrative presents the salmon as an auxiliary helper figure whose rescue by the hero initiates a reciprocal bond, illustrating the archetype of gratitude between human and animal realms.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, 1974supporting

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He found a piece of jade bearing some design, stuck it into the ground, and pretended to a spring salmon that the object was calling it names. The salmon came ashore, and Raven killed it.

In Tlingit trickster mythology, the salmon is a coveted prey obtained through deception, underscoring its role as a prized life-sustaining resource within archaic economies of cunning and exchange.

Radin, Paul, The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology, 1956supporting

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Having stolen a salmon from some people when they were asleep, they in turn discovered him asleep and wrenched off his gizzard.

Radin’s Tlingit trickster cycle positions the salmon as an object of theft and counter-theft, embedding it within the cyclical logic of transgression and retribution that structures trickster narratives.

Radin, Paul, The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology, 1956supporting

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salmon, related to 474 Apocalyptic vision

Campbell’s index notation briefly associates the salmon with Apocalyptic vision, suggesting an eschatological valence to the symbol that is gestured at but not developed in the surrounding text.

Campbell, Joseph, The Mythic Image, 1974aside

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